to observe the carriages when they arrived; and seeing them take the road to Varennes, instead of that to Metz, the post-master of St. Menéhoud took a shorter rout; and gaining Varennes before the King's carriages, gave the alarm, and was the cause of his Majesty's arrest. There is no truth in the tale of the King's being the occasion of the arrest himself, by stopping to take refreshment at an inn.

119. NAIVETÉ OF AN IRISHMAN.

A native of Ireland having become suddenly rich, by an unexpected inheritance, his aged nurse presented herself to him, to congratulate him on his good fortune, and solicit a little pecuniary help of which she stood much in need. "No! No!" he exclaimed," I will never give you sixpence, you treacherous old jade! You "changed me when I was at nurse with you; for I was then healthy and strong, ❝ and ever since I have been sickly."

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120. FINE TRAIT OF MADAME DU BARRY. A few days before the Countess du Barry

was guillotined (8th December 1793) an Irish priest found means to see her in prison, in the Conciergerie, and offered to effect her escape, if she could command a certain sum to bribe the jailors and defray the expenses of a journey. She asked him whether he could not save two persons. He replied, his plan would admit of saving only one. "Then," said Madame du Barry, "here is an order for the sum; but go "instantly to the Duchess de Mortemart " and save her: you will find her con"cealed in a garret in a certain house in "Calais." The priest, after urging Madame du Barry, in vain, to seize the opportunity of escaping from her fate, yielded to her generous resolution, took the money, proceeded to Calais, drew the Duchess de. Mortemart from her asylum, disguised her as a woman of ordinary rank, and made her travel with him on foot, saying, as he passed along, that he was a poor constitutional priest, and that the Duchess was his wife. They were hailed by the people with testimonies of joy; and in this manner they travelled through the French armies, and arrived at Ostend ;

from whence the Priest passed into England with Madame de Mortemart, whom I have since seen in London.

121. SILVER CISTERN AT BURLEIGH.

The finest vessel I have ever seen is a silver cistern at Lord Exeter's, at Burleigh: it weighs 3000 oz., is four feet long, three in width, and two and a half in height. It stands on golden feet, and is ornamented with two silver lions for handles.

122. EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE OF TWO RUSSIAN CANNONEERS.

I have been told by M. de Liyakewitz, secretary to the Russian Embassy at London, that being in the Russian fleet in the Archipelago, when, in 1773, it burnt the Turkish fleet before Smyrna, he witnessed the following extraordinary event ;-The Russian admiral's ship took fire in an action, and blew up; and two cannoneers, being carried into the air by the explosion, fell into the sea, close by a Turkish vessel. They were taken up, made prisoners, and placed in irons on the poop. Three days

after, the Turkish vessel being set on fire. in the harbour by the Russians, blew up also, and the two unfortunate men were again thrown into the sea, near the Russian fleet, and taken up; but having each of them both legs torn away, from their being chained by them to the deck, they underwent amputation below the knee, and both survived the accident many years. M. de Liyakewitz saw them both at the time and long afterwards.

123. UNHAPPy Adventure OF AN OLD MAN.

Sir Bn, aged 70, having married his eldest son to the daughter of Sir Charles W. the bride invited her sister, a young lady of seventeen years of age, to pass some time with her, at the house of her father-in-law in the country. The old man became romantically enamoured of Miss W, and offered her his hand. She refused him. He, however, persisted in his suit; and the young lady, to avoid the importunity of his addresses, resolved to quit the house of her aged admirer. On the evening preceding the day of her intend

ed departure, the old man, being at supper, declared that he would not see his hopes frustrated; and when the ladies had retired, he said Miss W— should be his, whatever it might cost, or he would perish in the attempt. His son, who saw that he was greatly inflamed with wine, withdrew from the company, and advised Miss

W

not to go to bed that night, recommending also his wife to sit up with her. In fact, after midnight, the old man attempted to enter the young lady's apartment, and finding the door fast, burst it open; but at the first step he took into the chamber, he fell down dead in an apoplectic fit, and thus accomplished his prediction.

124. THE SURRENDER OF GIBRALTAR PRO POSED TO SPAIN, AND REFused.

It is a certain fact, that it was once the intention of the English Cabinet to give up Gibraltar to the Spaniards. Mr. Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham, in dispatches to Sir Benjamin Keene, English Ambassador at